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Reinstatement of abortion law leaves few options

In this July 15, 2013 file photo, two signs that read “Who Lobbied For This?” and “We Need Healthcare Options, Not Obstacles” are held by attendees of a rally in front of Dallas city hall where a group of nearly 200 gathered to protest the approval of sweeping new restrictions on abortion in Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

by Christopher Sherman and Chris TomlinsonAssociated Press Writers

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — In a Texas abortion clinic, about a dozen women waited Friday to see the doctor, already aware that they would not be able to end their pregnancies there.

A day after a federal appeals court allowed most of the state’s new abortion restrictions to take effect during a legal challenge, about a third of Texas’ clinics were barred from performing the procedure.

Thursday’s ruling made Texas the fourth and largest state to enforce a provision requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital. In places such as the Rio Grande Valley and rural West Texas, the mandate put hundreds of miles between many women and abortion providers.

Anti-abortion groups welcomed the court’s surprise decision, which they insisted would protect women’s health. The ruling came just a few days after a lower federal court put the law on hold.

If women did not know about the ruling before they arrived at Reproductive Services of Harlingen, clinic administrator Angie Tristan told them. Abortions are a two-day process in Texas. On Fridays, women arrive here for their initial consultation with the doctor. On Saturdays, they return for the procedure.

Despite Tristan’s explanation that they would not be able to have abortions on Saturday, some women decided to stay on the slim hope that something would change.

A panel of judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that Texas can enforce the law while a lawsuit challenging the restrictions moves forward.

The law that the Legislature passed in July also bans abortions at 20 weeks and, beginning in September 2014, requires doctors to perform all abortions in surgical facilities.

But it is the provision about admitting privileges that has idled Dr. Lester Minto’s hands here in Harlingen, near the Texas-Mexico border.

After the law was adopted, the clinic began preparing to close, shredding old patient records and drawing down their inventory, ordering only enough supplies to keep going for a month at a time.

Minto, who has been performing abortions for 30 years, predicted the women he sees would take dangerous measures in their desperation. He made clear he would not perform abortions Saturday if they remain prohibited, but he did not rule out taking other steps in the future.

“I’m going to continue helping girls somehow,” he said.

Without access to his services, “they’ll do drastic things,” Minto predicted. “Some, they may even commit suicide.”

He said he has seen women take various concoctions hoping to end pregnancies. Others have been beaten by boyfriends who pounded their abdomens with bats.

The communities Minto serves are among the nation’s poorest. On top of that, many of his patients cross the border from Mexico, where abortion is illegal in most places. Others live in the U.S. illegally.

If this clinic and one in nearby McAllen are forced to close, women seeking abortions would be faced with taking days off work, finding childcare and paying for hotels in cities such as San Antonio, Austin or Houston.

That’s more than many can afford, including a 39-year-old woman from Willacy County who was waiting Friday to see Minto. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was fearful of the judgment she would face in her small, rural community.

The woman said she and and her husband are happily married but already have several children. They’re just getting back on their feet financially after her husband recently found work. The pregnancy was not planned.

“I just can’t afford to have another one,” she said, crying. But the money to travel north for an abortion isn’t there either.

Asked what she would do if the clinic were not allowed to perform her abortion, she said: “I think I will have to go through with the pregnancy. I don’t have the finances to travel.”

Among the clinics that could not perform abortions under the current restrictions are those of Whole Woman’s Health in McAllen, San Antonio and Fort Worth.

“Women who need our care will now have nowhere to turn, and the staff and physicians in our clinics now face furlough and likely unemployment,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, the agency’s CEO and president, said Friday in a statement. “This law affects real people, real lives and real families.”